A look at upcoming theatrical and Disney+ projects from Walt Disney Animation, Pixar Animation, and Walt Disney Studios (updating live)
Friday, September 9 – Studio Showcase: Celebrate the Magic of Disney and Pixar
(3:30pm – 5:30pm)
On day one of the D23 Expo, fans get an all-star look at what’s coming up from Disney Animation, Pixar Animation, and Walt Disney Studios.
The panel opens with a on-screen presentation sizzle reel of classic Disney animated films, Pixar films, and live-action films. The sizzle ends with the new “Disney 100” logo.
Cynthia Erivo opens the panel by performing “When You Wish Upon A Star”
Sean Bailey comes on stage to present the live-action portion of the presentation.
He starts off by talking about Hocus Pocus 2, coming to Disney+ this fall.
They showed the new trailer for and It tarts with the origin of the Sanderson sisters, why they were banished from Salem, and on Winnie’s 16th bday she received the book. 370 years later, the sisters are back. The sisters call upon the book and meets new characters – three teenage girls. The sisters takes flight again, and a fan fave character makes a return.
Disenchanted – The entire cast is on stage. The original cast talks about their excitement to be back for the sequel and gave us an update on what their characters have been up to. We’ll have new music from Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.
We get a look at the first trailer – Giselle and Robert starts a new life in a new location… but it’s not exactly how she pictured. Giselle makes a wish but it goes terribly wrong.
Peter Pan and Wendy live-action film casts Jude Law as Captain Hook. Our first look at the movie – It opens with Wendy finds on the shore of Neverland. She comes across the Lost Boys. We see Peter, Wendy, John, and Michael take flight from Big Ben just as we know from the classic film. The scene between Peter, Wendy, and Captain Hook looks intense. Coming to Disney+.
Haunted Mansion – Director Justin Simien comes on stage to introduce the film and gives us a first look! We see the new tenants of the mansion pull up to the gates. The images of the mansion looks like an exact replica of the ride. As the tenants explore their new home, they find a hidden room. It leads to an underground Seance Room
We see sneak peeks of iconic characters like the bride, hatbox ghost, the hitch-hiking ghosts, the dueling ghosts, and more. The trailer definitely have the creep factor.
The Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis who’ll play Madam Leota arrives on a Doom Buggy to whisk away Justin.
Mufasa: The Lion King Director Barry Jenkins takes to the stage to talk about the film, and introduces the first look. It opens on a young cub. A flash flood washes him away, and he survives by hanging onto a piece of driftwood. Rafiki, Timon, and Pumbaa makes a surprise appearance as the story tellers.
Snow White – directed by Mark Webb. We gt a first look at Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot. as The Evil Queen.
The Little Mermaid – directed by Rob Marshall, who says it’s important to honor the traditional and to also bring some re-imagination of the story. Marshall praises the actress Halle Bailey as Ariel. Joel Howard King as Prince Eric and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula. Javier Bardem plays Triton, Daveed Diggs as Sebation, Awkwafina as Scuttle, and Jacob Tremblay as the adorable Flounder.
We get an exclusive look at the “Part Of Your World”, a sequence that took 3 days to shoot. Bailey’s performance of the song is beyond impressive and moved me to tears. Premiering May 2023
Pixar Animation Presentation
Pete Docter is on stage to introduce what’s coming up from Pixar Animation
Elemental – Where the residents are elements of air, fire, earth, and water. Ember (a fire element) meets Wade (a water element) and have to figure out how to work together. We get a sneak peek at “Elemental” where Ember and Wade meets for the first time. Premiere Summer 2023.
Win Or Lose – Follows the middle school softball team “Pickles” and in each episode, we’ll see a different perspective of the same week from a different character. Will Forte will play Coach Dan.
The stories will weave together for the finale in the championship game.
Elio – features an 11 year old kid who makes the first contact with an alien race. His mom works for a top secret military project who needs to decipher a strange alien code. But since Elio made the first contact, he’s now the universal ambassador. America Ferrera will play Elio’s mom Olga. Premiere Spring 2024
Inside Out 2 – It takes place in Riley’s head but now she’s a teenager. There’ll be NEW emotions. Premiering Summer 2024
Walt Disney Animation
Jennifer Lee comes on stage to shows us coming Disney Animation projects
Zootopic+ comes to Disney+ November 9. Featuring 6 new stories taking place in Zootopia, with fan-favorite characters.
Iwájú – An original Disney+ series. In collaboration with Pan-African comic book entertainment company Kugali. Filmmakers Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, Hamid Ibrahim and Tolu Olowofoyeku, who introduced the setting of the series – a love letter to Lagos, Nigeria. “Iwájú” is depicted as as a futuristic world bursting with color, unique visual elements and technological advancements inspired by the spirit of Lagos, which is physically divided into an island and a mainland separated by both water and socio-economic status. We’ll get to meet new characters like Tola and Kole, the robotic pet Otin, Tunde, and Bode.
Strange World– Directed by Don Hall. We get a look at the first Strange World trailer. The story is about an incredible family who must get past their differences to save a strange world full of danger and surprises. The voice cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Lucy Liu, Jaboukie Young-White, and Gabrielle Union. Out in theaters Novemer 23.
For 2023, we’ll see the feature film “Wish”, which will be a musical. Music was written by the award-winning Julia Michaels. The director teases plenty of easter eggs in the movie.
Set to release Fall 2023, during the Studio’s 100th year, “Wish” blends watercolor style animation with 3D animation. The story takes place in the Kingdom of Rosa, and follows Asha, a 17-year-old an optimist with a sharp wit who cares endlessly about her community. Asha makes a wish to protect the kingdom. Her wish calls down Star, who only communicates through pantomime.
Alan Tudyk comes on stage to introduce his character, Valentino the goat
We have a first look at Valentino who meets Star and gets his wish granted – the wish to communicate.
The presentation closes with an exclusive performance of “More From Us” by Ariana DeBose, who’ll be playing Asha.
